The Nativity with the Infant Saint John

c. 1495/1505

Piero di Cosimo

Artist, Florentine, 1462 - 1522

A woman and a winged angel kneel and a child stands, all looking at a nude, chubby baby who lies on a slate-blue cloth under the ruins of a structure in this round painting. Three more angels and several more people are in the background. They all have pale, peachy skin with wide-set eyes and gold rings for halos. Their full lips are closed, and they have short philtrums over wide mouths. The woman, Mary, kneels at the center of the composition with her body facing us. Her face tips to the left, and her fingertips touch in front of her chest. A white cloth covers her head and drapes to her shoulders. She wears a rose-red dress and lapis-blue cloak lined with pine green, all of which puddle on the ground around her knees. To the right of Mary, the angel’s hair falls in brown, shoulder-length ringlets under a diadem of pearls and gems. Also with hands together in prayer, the angel has butter-yellow wings and wears an emerald-green garment with red sleeves under a muted blue cloak and a jeweled pendant around the neck. Saint John the Baptist, the child standing to the left, has short, brown curly hair and wears a fur-like garment under a burgundy-red cloth. His and the other’s clothing are edged with gold. Saint John clutches his hands together at his chest and holds a staff with a narrow cross at the top. At the bottom center, the nude baby lies with his head propped up on a bushel of wheat on the blue cloth. With his head to our left, he lies on his right hip so his body faces us. A pink rose lies at his feet, and a black and white bird perches on the dirt ground nearby. The facing wall of the stone structure behind the group is missing. A balding man with a white beard and hair steps carefully down a stair near the second level. He wears an aqua-blue robe under a golden yellow cloak and uses a tall staff for balance. More stairs lead to a third level. Through an opening in the back wall, two angels float on a bank of dense clouds in the sky as a barefoot angel stands on the landing, looking to our right. An alcove on our level in the building behind Mary holds a jug, dishes, and a tall vessel. An ox and ass stand in a grassy field to the left of the building. Farther back and on a dirt path, a man with a tall staff and a halo holds one hand up to face a person sitting the grass. The seated person also has a staff with a narrow cross at the top. A man on horseback near that pair gestures to our right, and two more people travel along the path on the far side of the hill. The path leads back to buildings tucked in among steep, grass-carpeted cliffs to the left and, beyond Saint John the Baptist, to hills rolling back to a town and a hazy blue horizon. Pale gray and white clouds bustle across the blue sky.

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The tondo, or circular painting, enjoyed remarkable popularity in Renaissance Florence and was a specialty of Piero di Cosimo. His surviving examples of the type accommodate rich narratives within their round formats, which signify eternity, divinity, and cosmic harmony. The National Gallery’s Nativity, among the largest of Piero’s roundels, was likely intended for devotional use in a private palace or in the more public setting of a local confraternity or guildhall. Mary kneels in adoration of the infant Christ, who rests on a blue mantle, his head supported by a pillow of wheat that evokes the Eucharist. Also present to venerate the incarnate Jesus are an angel and the young John the Baptist, who clutches a reed cross and regards the Christ child with touching solemnity.

Piero’s narrative vision encompasses details sublime and mundane, from the symbolic rose and bud, rocks, and dove beside Christ to the half-ruined stable in the background with its niche of kitchen utensils. Jesus’s father, Joseph, descends the building’s wooden stairs in the cautious manner of an aged man. He is attended by angels bearing flowering branches to celebrate the Child’s birth. In the distance at left, the three Magi traverse a serene landscape whose rolling contours perfectly complement the tondo’s shape.

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 19

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall (diameter): 145.7 cm (57 3/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1939.1.371

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Grand Duchess Maria Nicolaievna de Leuchtenberg [1819-1876], Saint Petersburg, Russia, after 1852;[1] by inheritance to her son, Nicholas de Beauharnais, duc de Leuchtenberg [1843-1891], Saint Petersburg, Russia; by inheritance to Nicholas' son, Nicholas de Beauharnais, duc de Leuchtenberg [1868-1928], Saint Petersburg, Russia; acquired by A.-B. Nordiska Kompaniet, Stockholm, by 1917, as by Ridolfo Ghirlandaio.[2] (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, Florence and Rome); sold 1937 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[3] gift 1939 to NGA.
[1] The painting is not included in the 1851 catalogue of the Leuchtenberg collection.
[2] Eugène de Beauharnais, Leuchtenbergska tavelsamlingen, Stockholm, 1917, catalogues 93 pictures acquired by the AB Nordiska Kompaniet from the Leuchtenberg collection; this picture is no. 9, as by Ghirlandaio.
[3] See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2261.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1938

  • Piero di Cosimo, Schaeffer Galleries, New York, 1938, no. 1.

2015

  • Piero di Cosimo: The Poetry of Painting in Renaissance Florence, National Gallery of Art, Washington; Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, 2015, no. 14 (English catalogue), no. 31 (Italian catalogue), repros.

Bibliography

1864

  • Crowe, Joseph Archer, and Giovan Battista Cavalcaselle. A New History of Painting in Italy from the Second to the Sixteenth Century. 3 vols. London, 1864-1866: 3(1866):31, as by Luca Signorelli.

1886

  • Crowe, Joseph Archer, and Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle. Storia della pittura in Italia dal secolo II al secolo XVI. 11 vols. Florence, 1886-1908: 8(1898):518, as by Luca Signorelli.

1903

  • Crowe, Joseph Archer, and Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle. A History of Painting in Italy. 6 vols. Ed. Robert Langton Douglas (vols. 1-4) and Tancred Borenius (vols. 5-6). London, 1903-1914: 5(1914): 116. 6(1914):48.

1912

  • Venturi, Lionello. “Saggio sulle opere d’arte italiane a Pietroburgo.” L’Arte 15 (1912): 123, 127-128.

1917

  • Leuchtenbergska tavelsamlingen. Stockholm, 1917: 27-28, repro., as by Ridolfo Ghirlandaio.

1923

  • Marle, Raimond van. The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting. 19 vols. The Hague, 1923-1938: 13(1931): 356.

1930

  • Venturi, Adolfo. “Pitture di Piero di Cosimo e di Jacopo Bassano.” L’Arte 1 (1930): 46.

1941

  • Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 153-154, no. 464.

1942

  • Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 249, repro. 168.

1945

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 61, repro.

1946

  • Douglas, Robert Langton. Piero di Cosimo. Chicago, 1946: 45, 119-120, pls. XX, XXI.

1957

  • Morselli, Paolo. “Ragioni di un pittore fiorentino: Piero di Cosimo.” L’ Arte 22 (1957): 140.

1958

  • Morselli, Paolo. “Piero di Cosimo: saggio di un catalogo delle opere.” L’ Arte 23 (1958): 92, as doubtfully by Piero di Cosimo.

1959

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 75, repro.

  • Zeri, Federico. “Rivedendo Piero di Cosimo.” Paragone 115 (1959): 44.

1963

  • Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Florentine School. 2 vols. London, 1963: 1:177.

  • Grassi, Luigi. Piero di Cosimo e il problema della conversione al ‘500 nella pittura fiorentina ed emiliana. Rome, 1963: 72+.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 103.

1966

  • Bacci, Mina. Piero di Cosimo. Milan, 1966: 18, 42, 45, 95, cat. 40.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 91, repro.

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XV-XVI Century. London, 1968: 119, fig. 288.

  • Passavant, Hunter. “Review of Mina Bacci, Piero di Cosimo.” Kunstchronik 4, no. 21 (April 1968): 109.

1972

  • Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, MA, 1972: 164, 646.

1973

  • Finley, David Edward. A Standard of Excellence: Andrew W. Mellon Founds the National Gallery of Art at Washington. Washington, 1973: 79.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 268, repro.

1976

  • Bacci, Mina. L’opera completa di Piero di Cosimo. Milan, 1976: 94, cat. 42, pls. LVII-LIX.

1979

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:371-372; 2:pl. 269.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 104, no. 76, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 312, repro.

1993

  • Fermor, Sharon. Piero di Cosimo: Fiction, Invention and Fantasia. London, 1993: 152, 156, fig. 74.

1996

  • Capretti, Elena, and Anna Forlani Tempesti. Piero di Cosimo: catalogo completo. Florence, 1996: 119-120, cat. 30.

2000

  • Olson, Roberta J. M. The Florentine Tondo. Oxford, 2000: 252 ,fig. A46.

2001

  • Wilson, Carolyn C. St. Joseph in Italian Renaissance Society and Art: New Directions and Interpretations. Philadelphia, 2001: 58, 78, pl. 44.

2002

  • Forlani Tempesti, Anna, and Elena Capretti. "Piero di Cosimo: un'opera ritrovata." Arte Cristiana 90, no. 808 (2002): 26, 28 n. 8, fig. 17.

2003

  • De Marchi, Andrea. "La Sacra Famiglia Stramezzi di Piero di Cosimo." In Petr Přibyl, Martina Sošková, and Eva Zíkovâ, eds. In Italiam nos fata trahunt, sequamur...: sborník příspěvku k 75 narozeninám Olgu Pujmanové. Prague, 2003: 82.

2006

  • Geronimus, Dennis. Piero di Cosimo: Visions Beautiful and Strange. New Haven and London, 2006: 172, 186, 326 n. 35, fig. 130.

2010

  • Tazartes, Maurizia. Piero di Cosimo “ingegno astratto e difforme.” Florence, 2010: 108, fig. 50.

2011

  • Boskovits, Miklós, ed. The Alana Collection, Newark, Delaware, USA. Vol. II: Italian Paintings and Sculptures from the Fourteenth to Sixteenth Century. Florence, 2011: 262.

2012

  • Fiorenza, Giancarlo. “Tadpoles, Caterpillars and Mermaids: Piero di Cosimo’s Poetic Nature.” In Melinda Schlitt, ed. Gifts in Return: Essays in Honour of Charles Dempsey. Toronto, 2012: 160-161, n. 21.

  • Padovani, Serena. “Intorno a Piero di Cosimo. Il filo rosso di alcune attribuzioni sbagliate.” Commentari d’arte 18, no. 51 (2012): 24.

2014

  • Kennicott, Philip. “An Enigmatic Giant of Renaissance Art Will Get D.C. Show.” Washington Post 137, no. 232 (July 25, 2014): C1, C6, color fig.

2015

  • Hirschauer, Gretchen A. ““Building Castltes in the Air”: The Story of Piero di Cosimo.” In Gretchen Hirschauer and Dennis Geronimus, eds. Piero di Cosimo: The Poetry of Painting in Renaissance Florence. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2015: 3.

  • Luchs, Alison. “Creatures Great, Small, and Hybrid: The Natural and Unnatural Wonders in Piero’s Art.” In Gretchen Hirschauer and Dennis Geronimus, eds. Piero di Cosimo: The Poetry of Painting in Renaissance Florence. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2015: 64, 67-68.

  • Walmsley, Elizabeth. ““A Very Rich and Beautiful Effect”: Piero’s Painting Technique.” In Gretchen Hirschauer and Dennis Geronimus, eds. Piero di Cosimo: The Poetry of Painting in Renaissance Florence. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2015: 73, 75, 81, fig. 3.

  • Brilliant, Virginia. “Piero di Cosimo in America.” In Gretchen Hirschauer and Dennis Geronimus, eds. Piero di Cosimo: The Poetry of Painting in Renaissance Florence. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2015: 88, 89.

  • Padovani, Serena. “La mostra su Piero di Cosimo: una proposta per il suo percorso nel contesto contemporaneo.” In Elena Capretti et al, eds. Piero di Cosimo 1462-1522: Pittore eccentrico fra Rinascimento e Maniera. Exh. cat. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, 2015: 35.

  • Walmsley, Elizabeth. “Come dipingeva Piero. Nota sulla tecnica pittorica.” In Elena Capretti et al, eds. Piero di Cosimo 1462-1522: Pittore eccentrico fra Rinascimento e Maniera. Exh. cat. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, 2015: 186, 194, figs. 2, 4.

2019

  • Nuttall, Paula. “Piero di Cosimo and Netherlandish Painting.” In Dennis Geronimus and Michael W. Kwakkelstein, eds. Piero di Cosimo: Painter of Faith and Fable. Leiden, 2019: 215-216, fig. 9.4.

2020

  • Saracino, Francesco. “Isabella d’Este e il ‘Presepio con Santo Zoanne Baptista’.” Saggi e Memorie di storia dell’arte 44 (2020): 55, fig. 3.

Wikidata ID

Q20174667

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